Greggs announces release of vegan sausage rolls nationwide and Twitter describes it as the ‘best news ever’

‘I never thought in my life I’d be a regular customer of yours’

Greggs has announced the release of its vegan sausage roll nationwide, prompting numerous fans of the pastry to express their excitement on Twitter.

In January 2019, high street bakery Greggs revealed that it would be taking a departure from its typically meaty produce to create a vegan-friendly sausage roll in celebration of Veganuary.

The meat-free snack was made available in 950 of its stores, and was developed with a vegetable oil-based pastry and a "bespoke Quorn filling".

The release of the vegan sausage roll spurred a huge reaction on social media. "Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns," Piers Morgan tweeted, to which Greggs' official Twitter account responded: "Oh hello Piers, we've been expecting you."

Now, more than a month after the pastry's initial release, the bakery has confirmed the vegan sausage roll will be on the shelves of all 1,950 UK Greggs branches by March 2019.

The reaction to the news has been predominantly positive, with both vegans and non-vegans stating that they look forward to the vegan sausage roll being made more accessible to the nation.

"BEST NEWS EVER!! Literally gone from never visiting Greggs at all to being there several times a week due to this addition," one person tweeted.

"I never thought in my life I'd be a regular customers of yours but I have become [one] since the launch of #VeganSausageRoll," another said.

"Great when you need [a] quick protein fix after exercise."

Another Twitter user revealed that they had only just tried their first vegan sausage roll and thought it was "great".

"Glad they are sticking around!" they added.

In addition to the roll out of the vegan sausage roll, Greggs has also launched a "Vegan Sausage Roll Finder".

The feature on the bakery's website allows customers to find the store closest to their location that has stock of the vegan pastry.

When the Greggs vegan sausage roll was first released, some critics went to extreme lengths to demonstrate their disapproval.

One customer went viral after tweeting a video of himself buying the vegan sausage roll and then throwing it in the bin.

Several people criticised the man for the absurdity of his actions.

"Homeless person would have been grateful for that, shameful behavior really," one person tweeted.

"Greggs will count that as one sold and so you’ve contributed to the success of vegan foods - and Greggs and others are more likely to sell even more now. Genius. Well played. Vegans everywhere will be proud of you," another remarked.

The man in question wasn't the only person to express outrage over the notion of a vegan sausage roll.

"An insult to sausages... Call it a vegetable extract mush roll," one person tweeted.

"I'd rather eat my own ear wax," someone else commented.

For all the biggest vegan food launches of 2019, click here.